'Smiles' Hot Spot 1963 TV Performance- Rare!

This is a real oddity. The audio in this video comes from a rare TV special called "The Nut House" which aired on TV in 1963 or 1964. It was intended as a pilot for a future series which resembled, in a way, an early version of what Rowan & Martin's "Laugh-In" later looked like. The show was written and produced by many of the same people who worked on "Rocky and Bullwinkle" at the time. Why they chose the song Smiles from the musical flop "Hot Spot" is beyond me, although the number in the context of the special is about all the paintings in a gallery asking the Mona Lisa why she smiles the way she does.

"Hot Spot" was a full blown, four-alarm disaster of a show, running for 58 previews and 43 official performances. It was to be the last show starring Judy Holliday, who would pass away tragically a few years later. Said Holliday about the show, "a person can only live through one or two Hot Spots in their life". The less that is said about the failure of the show, the better. The show is notable, however, for being one of very few shows that Stephen Sondheim ghost-wrote numbers for (Don't Laugh, That's Good/That's Bad).

Taken directly from the TV special "The Nut House". Cast unknown.

[stephenmitchell]

Martin Charnin worked on the TV show and brought his material along for the ride.

[kuklafranandollie]

Cast:

Ceil Cabot
Jane Connell
Fay DeWitt
Andrew Duncan
Don Francks
Anthony Holland
Adam Keefe
Kathy Kersh
Muriel Landers
Marilyn Lovell
Mara Lynn
Len Maxwell
Jack Sheldon
Alan Sues
Robert Banas
Diane Stuart

[stephenmitchell]

but what a cast on the show...this must be Ceil Cabott because it's not Fay DeWitt or Jane Connell.

[craigelleh]

Some clues about this show can be found here:

[terryhammond]

I am not sure who the lady is who's singing, but...

[hanschristianbrando]

It should be an Equity rule that every Broadway musical has to leave a cast album, even if it only runs one performance.

[stephenmitchell]

dull number for sure! screams flop musical.